The field of the invention pertains to boilers and heat exchangers and, in particular, to simple and convenient means for injecting cleaning and treatment materials into boilers and heat exchangers.
An example of a device specifically directed to cleaning boilers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,530,018 to Marks. The Marks device provides for spraying into a boiler firebox through the closed door with a pipe assembly that accommodates opening and closing of the door. The device does not provide for the admixture of cleaning or treating materials.
Slayter, U.S. Pat. No. 2,747,844, discloses a tank for thoroughly mixing two fluids. Within the tank are a combination of inner tubes and baffles perforated at specific locations to mix portions of one fluid with the other as both flow lengthwise through the tank.
Walker, U.S. Pat. No. 2,599,678, discloses a vertical tank to supply treatment materials to a separate water mixing nozzle for agricultural uses. The tank is pressurized by a water supply that is tightly restricted by an orifice passage into the tank and the water added to the tank to drive out the treatment material is purposely not intended to mix with the treatment material.
Kimmell, U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,932, discloses a large tank and piping system for supplying treatment chemicals to agricultural irrigation water supplies. The horizontal tank includes a length of perforated pipe located adjacent the tank bottom to keep the treatment chemicals in the tank agitated. Mixing of the treatment chemicals with the irrigation water supply is accomplished in an admixing nozzle separate from the tank.
The means currently used by servicemen to clean boilers and heat exchangers utilize a motor driven pump to supply pressurized water to a tank filled with treatment materials. The tanks used with the pumps do not assure that all of the treatment material is discharged into the boiler or heat exchanger. With the associated motor driven pump the current apparatus costs several thousand dollars and is cumbersome for the serviceman to hand carry from a service vehicle to the boiler location. The boiler location may also be very cramped and inconveniently located for hand carrying heavy machinery. To overcome the inconvenience and expense of the means currently used, applicants have invented the injection tank disclosed and claimed below.